Associate Professor SN Nyeck
Associate Professor
Africana Studies • Political Economy • Gender and Queer Studies

Office Location: Ketchum 285

Pronouns: all are welcome

 

Education

D.Min., Virginia Theological Seminary - Practical Theology, 2019-present
Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles - International Relations & Comparative Politics, 2013
B.A., Swarthmore College - Political Science, High Honors, 2007
B.A., Swarthmore College - Comparative Literature, High Honors, 2007
A.A., LaGuardia Community College - International Relations, Honors, 2005

Research Interests

Nego-feminism/Womanism, Black queer studies, inclusive economies, critical indigenous imagination, African studies, political theology, law and society

Affiliations

CU Center for African & African American Studies
Adjunct Professor, Mandela University, South Africa
Extraordinary Professor, Desmond Tutu Center for Religion and Social Justice, Western Cape University, South Africa


Dr. Nyeck is a multidisciplinary Associate Professor in Africana/Gender Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies. Trained in political economy of development at the University of California Los Angeles with specialization in International Relations and Comparative Politics, Dr. Nyeck has pursued two research streams to date. The first stream is centered on the political economy of development, governance, and global public procurement reform with an interest in social justice, race and gender-responsive schemes in government contracts. The other stream reflects on gender and identity politics. She has written extensively on interdisciplinary topics such as queerness and politics, public policy, gender equity, ethics and religion, public procurement reform, economic inclusion, and human rights. Dr. Nyeck has been at the forefront of queer studies in Africa and her recent book African(a) Queer Presence: Ethics and Politics of Negotiation (Palgrave 2021), is, according to one reviewer, “field changing and field forging [as] Nyeck invites the reader to engage with a new queer ethics. Her extended questioning of Africana queer existence is thus a multilayered, intellectually inclusive and critical examination of what an African-centered queer studies can become.” Dr. Nyeck is currently pursuing a D.Min in Practical Theology at Virginia Theological Seminary to expand her research on identity and politics to the analysis of intercultural and ecumenical inclusive epistemologies and practices. She serves as the book review editor for the Journal of Africana Religions.

Prior to joining the Department of Ethnic Studies, Dr. Nyeck was a Visiting Scholar at the Vulnerability and the Human Condition Initiative, Emory School of Law. Her upcoming book Gender, Vulnerability Theory and Public Procurement: Perspectives on Global Reform (Routledge Law & Society series, 2023), a product of her time at Emory, is innovative in its theoretical and empirical foci.

Dr. Nyeck is a former fellow with the Meria Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa at the University of Ghana Legon and the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies in Germany. In her work on economic inclusion and identity politics, Nyeck has been successful in assembling and leading international teams to advance research and knowledge dissemination in her areas of research. In this capacity, she often serves as a consultant for NGOs and multilateral financial institutions. Dr. Nyeck is currently working on a book manuscript on the history of colonization in Africa from the perspective of historical political and economic contractual deals between various European powers and African polities from 1620 until 1920.

Dr. Nyeck is a Board member of the West African Research Association and holds the cultural title of Mbombock Koo-Koo among the Basaa, Mpoo, and Bati of Cameroon.

Note to potential graduate students: Please contact me with your ideas prior to submitting an application for our graduate studies program.


Selected Publications

Books

Nyeck, S.N. African(a) Queer Presence: Ethics and Politics of Negotiation (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021).

Edited Volumes

Nyeck, S.N. Gender, Vulnerability Theory and Public Procurement: Perspectives on Global Reform (London; New York: Routledge Law & Society Series, 2023).

Nyeck, S.N. Routledge Handbook of Queer African Studies (London; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020). 

Nyeck, S.N. Public Procurement Reform and Governance in Africa (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).

Nyeck, S.N. and Marc Epprecht. Sexual Diversity in Africa: Politics, Theory and Citizenship (Montréal, Quebec: McGill-Queen's University Press,  2013).

Refereed Articles

Spronk, Rachel and S.N. Nyeck. Editors. “Frontiers and Pioneers in the Study of Queer Sexualities in Africa.” Special Journal Issue, Africa. (April 2021).

Nyeck, S.N. “Gender Vulnerability in Public Procurement.” In Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Governance, edited by Ali Farazmand and Christopher Atkinson. New York: Springer, DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_1598-1, (March 2020).

Nyeck, S.N. “Poetics: Queer Recesses of the Heart and the Spirit of Intimacy within the African(a) Household.” African Journal of Gender and Religion, Vol. 26, No. 2, (December 2020): 91-110.

Nyeck, S.N. “From Oblivion to Post-History: Sublime Othering in Rider Haggard and W.E.B. Du Bois.” The European Legacy, Vol. 24, Issue 6, (2019): 617-643.

Nyeck, S.N. “From Old Practices to New Governance Models: Contractual Schemes in Africa’s Political Development.” The European Legacy Vol. 22, Issue 4, (2017): 385-405.

Nyeck, S.N. “African Religions, the Parapolitics of Discretion and Sexual Ambiguity in Oral Epics.” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, no. 155 (2016): 88-104.

Nyeck, S.N. “(Out)bidding Women: Public Procurement Reform, Policy Diffusion and Gender Equality in Africa.” Women and Government Outsourcing in Transnational Perspectives (Special Issue) Wagadu: A Transnational Journal of Gender and Women’s Issues Vol. 14, (2015): 13-56.

Nyeck, S.N. and Orly Benjamin. Editors. “Women, Gender and Government Outsourcing in Comparative Perspectives.” Wagadu: A Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies Journal, Vol. 14, 2015.

Nyeck, S.N. “The Autobiography of Things Left Undone: Politics of Literature, Hyphenation and Queered Friendship in Africa.” Transcript Vol. 1, February, (2011): 172-198.

Contributions to Edited Collections

Nyeck, S.N. “Mobilizing against the Invisible: Erotic Nationalism, Mass Media, and the ‘Paranoid Style’ in Cameroon.” In Sexual Diversity in Africa: Politics, Theory, Citizenship. Edited by S.N. Nyeck and M. Epprecht. 150-169. Montréal, Quebec: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Nyeck, S.N., Marc Epprecht, and S.M. Rodriguez. “LGBTQ Rights.” Understanding Contemporary Africa. 6th edition. Edited by Peter J. Schraeder. 303-327. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2020.

Nyeck, S.N. “Heretical Falsification and the Challenge of Theorizing LGBT Politics from the South.” The Oxford Handbook on LGBT Global PoliticsEdited by Michael Bosia, Sandra McEvoy and Monin Rahman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190673741.013.17.

Nyeck, S.N. “Africa and Neoliberalism.” In Global Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,Transgender, and Queer History. Edited by Howard Chiang, Anjali Arondekar, Marc Epprecht, Jennifer Evans, Ross Forman, Hanadi al-Samman, Emily Skidmore, and Zeb Tortorici. 1132-1137. New York: Cengage Learning, 2018.

Nyeck, S.N. “Queer Fragility and Christian Social Ethics: A Political Interpolation of the Catholic Church in Cameroon.” Christianity and Controversies in Contemporary Africa. Edited by Ezra Chitando and Adriaan van Klinken. 110-123. New York: Routledge, 2016.

Nyeck, S.N. “Implicit Dimensions of Public Procurement Contracts: African History and Debates.” Public Procurement Reform and Governance in Africa. Edited by S.N. Nyeck. 32-45. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

Nyeck, S.N. and Ekwekwuo Chibuzo. “The Role of New Technologies of Communication and Social Audits in Procurement Monitoring.” Public Procurement Reform and Governance in Africa. Edited by S.N. Nyeck. 261-275. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

Nyeck, S.N. “Stretching the Margins and Trading Taboos: A Paradoxical Approach to Sexual Rights Advocacy in Africa.” Sexuality and Politics: Regional Dialogue from the Global South edited by Sonia Corrêa, Rafael de la Dehesa and Richard Parker. Sexuality Policy Watch Vol. 1, (2014): 63-95.

Nyeck, S.N. “To Be or Not to Be a Lesbian: The Dilemma of Cameroon's Women Soccer Players.” African Women Writing Resistance: An Anthology of Contemporary Voices. Edited by Jennifer Browdy et al. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2010.

Publications updated September 2022


Professional Associations

American Academy of Religion
African Studies Association